The run-up to the American and French revolutions are definitely paralleled by developments in today's body politic. The difference being that in the redux versions bubbling up today, the politicians (and corporate overlords) have all been revealed to be the stooges of the private central banksters.
A sufficient portion of the population has awoken to the fact that democracies are a complete farce because the monetary system is controlled by non-elected sociopaths, and where the money flows so does power. That is why, I believe, the more people find out about cryptos - and it is still less than 10% of the population - the better.
A crypto revolution looks like the only chance to avoid a bloody revolution. Centralized authority based on a monopoly of violence can never possibly succeed in the long term, humanity is not meant to live in servitude. It is only a question of time until the giant awakes and asks itself why it is wearing chains instead of holding hands with its loved ones.
I completely agree, and I believe Steemit has exactly the potential you describe. The state does more than simply create a funding mechanism, and conversations and means of executing agreements based on the decisions of the people discussing, are necessary, and Steemit can do both.
That is why securing Steemit from Sybil attacks is so important to me. As long as Steemit can be easily captured by TPTB, it is not capable of creating an alternative to extant government.
Big accounts, like @freedom, @dan, etc..., simply cannot compete with REAL money, which is not measured in $MMs, but $TTs. There are people, or cabals, that would not spend more than petty cash to buy every Steem in existence.
Since those people are the threat we need to counter, we can only do that by preventing their money from controlling our weapon. Since that revolution is inevitable - we will be freed from coercion eventually - a weapon capable of defeating TPTB will effect that revolution.
If it isn't Steemit, it will be something like Steemit, but secure against Sybil attacks.